KyaeroSaber Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 I've been using LaunchBox for about two weeks now, so thanks to the devs for an awesome program! That said, I had some suggestions to improve LB; some of these are based on how iTunes works. - Sort attributes as "none" or "unspecified" when no data is available. If the GamesDB doesn't list a developer for a game or if I forget to specify a platform when importing, I want to be able to find out so I can add this information. - Automatically sort game titles to ignore articles at the beginning ("The", "A", "An"). - Option to "find missing ROMs" by searching a directory for ROMs with the same filenames. - Option to skip to alphabet sections with letter keys: Pressing 'z' would go to "Zanac". - Sort Roman numerals correctly, perhaps as numbers? This isn't a problem that often, but IX should come after VI. - An aesthetic nitpick, but is there a way to try and fit all of a game's subtitle on the same... line? As in "Legend of Zelda:/A Link to the Past" vs. "Legend of Zelda: A/Link to the Past" - I like Conehead's idea for a searchbar and tazrex's idea for playlists, would have pitched them if they hadn't. Also, I wasn't sure if there was support yet for mounting .bin/.cue, .iso, .mdf/.mds, etc. without leaving LaunchBox, but I at least found a temporary fix if anyone was interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Hi Kyaero, sorry for the delay here. I was under the impression that sorting attributes by "none" was already working properly. Can you give me an example of where it isn't? Finding missing ROMs should work properly via the ROM import, if you leave the box checked to ignore existing ROMs. Alphabet sections was previously working but was conflicting with some other keyboard shortcuts, so I removed it temporarily until I can fix the issues. I am interested in your approach for auto-mounts, if you wouldn't mind. I have something set up for Daemon Tools, currently, but it would be nice to know if there was a more streamlined approach. The rest of these I've either noted or just noted them. Thanks! Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyaeroSaber Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 My bad, I hadn't noticed until now that this already works by using the filters (right) sidebar; I had only been sorting with the left sidebar, which doesn't have the (none) or (exists) options. For systems that require mounting images I import the game filetypes (i.e. .bin/.cue) with default association to Daemon Tools, so when I click on the LaunchBox link for a game image it mounts in the virtual drive but does not open the emulator. Instead of associating the game files with the emulator, I import the emulator .exe file as another "game". When I click on the emulator link, it opens and sees that the game image has already been mounted, so it starts normally. It's not a great fix, but you don't have to minimize LaunchBox. Right now the only emulators I have that need this workaround are SSF and 4DO. TL;DR: Create separate links for game and emulator. Click game to mount, then emulator to run. On a related note, I'm pretty sure I typed in command line parameters individually to get each game to run with WinKawaks, even though the command is the same as the filename; is there an easier way to do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Kyaero, you can use additional applications to automatically mount a disc with Daemon Tools before running a game. Just add an additional application to the game and check the box to run it before starting the game. I have the command line parameters and such at home, but I'm not home right now so I can't check them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyaeroSaber Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 Forgot to say earlier, thanks for adding my features to the list! If you could help me figure out how to auto-mount with Daemon Tools I'd really appreciate it. Hopefully I don't have to put in individual parameters for each game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Kyaero, unfortunately right now it is a game-specific setting (but any way you look at it you'll have to specify specific CD/ISO files, so it wouldn't really work in batch anyways). Here's my configuration for Quake II: Application Path: DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe (should be the relative or full path to your Daemon Tools EXE) Application Command-Line Parameters: -mount dt, 0, "..\Games\Windows\Quake II\Quake2.cue" (change the path in the quotes to be the path to your CD image file) Then check "Automatically Run Before Main Application" and you should be good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bd00 Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Batch is possible if you create a .bat file to do all the work and point to it from LaunchBox as an emulator (talking about Windows games here, right?) You just add them as you would roms and use the batch file as the emulator. A single batch file can mount the related image then load the game, if you organize your disc images in a certain manner. e.g. (simple pseudo) - LB passes in the variable (as if passing it to emu) - call it VARA - Take the name of the .exe from VARA and put it into a new variable - call it VARB - Use VARB to find the disc img in your disc images folder and set it as a variable - call it VARC - Start Daemon Tools DT with cli and set path to VARC - Start VARA and pause batch until game is closed - Unmount img in DT - Exit This single .bat would allow you to load all Windows games that require the disc to run, providing you have the img's of course and organize them correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyaeroSaber Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 I already have Daemon Tools set up to auto mount images when I select them in File Explorer or set them as the Application Path in LaunchBox. I want to point out that I've been mostly dealing with images of console games, not games for Windows; right now I want to fix SSF to work with LaunchBox. I can run the emulator by adding it under additional apps to automatically start (with no parameters) after I select the image; this consolidates it down to one link, but I'd need to input the emulator into each game's additional apps. Is there a way to batch add additional apps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bd00 Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 Ah, OK I see. I don't think it is possible at present. I don't use the additional apps feature because I have scripts set up for all my emulators. You could do that for SSF. This should work for SSF: Goto the SSF directory on your system and create a new text file. Open it up and enter this (remember to change the path for DAEMON tools): @echo off set var=%1% :: !!!! Change the path below to the location of DAEMON Tools on your system !!!! set daemon="C:\location\of\daemon\tools\here\DTLite.exe" %daemon% -mount 0, %1% start /wait "" "SSF.exe" %daemon% -unmount 0 Save and close the text file. Rename the "New Text Document.txt" file to "SSF.bat" Open LaunchBox and batch change the emulator from SSF.exe to SSF.bat That's it. Now you don't need to add anything into the additional apps field, since the batch file does everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyaeroSaber Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 I've been trying to get this to work with no success. The way I had it set up before, Daemon Tools would mount the image file when I clicked on it or a link to it; now the batch file takes every incidence of %daemon% to open DT without mounting the image. I think the path to DT.exe is right but the mount/unmount commands aren't working. An empty command prompt also pops up when I run SSF.bat, and I had to replace "SSF.exe" with the exact file location to get SSF to start. I'm not too familiar with writing batch files, so I had some questions: Was there a purpose for the empty quotes after start /wait? What is var=%1% supposed to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bd00 Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 You can change SSF.exe to the full path , though it shouldn't be necessary if you created the .bat file in the same directory as SFF.exe Adding the full path would allow you to store the .bat in a different location if required. The commands look fine to me. Try this: @echo off :: !!!! Change the path below to the location of DAEMON Tools on your system !!!! set daemon="C:\location\of\daemon\tools\here\DTLite.exe" start "" %daemon% -mount 0, %1% start /wait "" "SSF.exe" %daemon% -unmount 0 The empty command prompt is normal, it is the batch file running. If you remove the @echo off from the top, you will see everything happening. The empty quotes are necessary but not being used here. The var=%1% is setting the variable that LaunchBox passes in, i.e. the full path to the game. It is not needed here and you can remove it, I changed my mind while writing the script and didn't clear it myself. The above should work fine. I can't test it right now, but I am sure that will work for you. Also, make sure when you add your path for DT that it is in "quotes" if it contains spaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bd00 Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 A quick Google search says DAEMON Tools (Lite) should be installed here "C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe" So... @echo off set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe" start "" %daemon% -mount 0, %1% start /wait "" "SSF.exe" %daemon% -unmount 0 ... should work. Unless you do not store the .bat file in the SSF directory, which means you will need to change SSF.exe to the full path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyaeroSaber Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 I figured out what I was doing wrong! The folder pathway was fine, but I was linking to the wrong .exe... instead of opening DT, I needed to use DTAgent.exe to mount and unmount files. Games now mount before the emulator starts and unmount on close. There's an empty command prompt that still pops up, but that's not much of an issue. My code ended up looking like this: @echo off set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Pro\DTAgent.exe" %daemon% -mount 0, %1% start /wait "" "SSF.exe" %daemon% -unmount 0 Thanks for your help bd000! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thiagocostaalves Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Hello, im having the same problem with SSF and DTlite...YAbause runs but the emulation is awful. Help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyaeroSaber Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 I realize this might not be the easiest to set up the first time, so how far have you gotten? I assume you have SSF up and running, you just want to automate mounting to Daemon Tools? Copy bd000's code below into Notepad and save it as "SSF.bat". @echo off set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe" start "" %daemon% -mount 0, %1% start /wait "" "SSF.exe" %daemon% -unmount 0 Put this SSF.bat file in the folder where SSF is. Then when you run LaunchBox, the emulator link for SSF should be to SSF.bat, NOT SSF.exe, because the .bat runs DTLite and then SSF. This works for .cue, .bin, .iso but I haven't tried with some other formats like .nrg if that's what you're using. Also, a word of warning, I haven't yet worked out how to automate unzipping games before play, so I leave unzipped copies of games I'm playing. I'll post if I work this out, but LaunchBox gets upset if it can't find the (unzipped) file it wants to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thiagocostaalves Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Thanks for the quick reply! Its a mount parameter error that im having: The .bat file is: @echo off set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe" start "" %daemon% -mount 0, %1% start /wait "" "SSF.exe" %daemon% -unmount 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyaeroSaber Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 I'm subscribed to this thread, so I get messaged about replies. Are the command line parameters for DTLite different in... Portuguese? It would be weird if "mount" was the same but "unmount" wasn't. Anyway, try taking out the last line of code. Each disc you click in LaunchBox will still mount and start SSF. It will switch games automatically, the only difference is that the last game you play won't automatically unmount. Hopefully that will work for the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thiagocostaalves Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 The command line parameter is the same in portuguese, nothing changes. I forgot to show that the error also occurs to mount , not only to unmount any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckeenie Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 thiagocostaalves said The command line parameter is the same in portuguese, nothing changes. I forgot to show that the error also occurs to mount , not only to unmount any ideas? Nice background is that from a game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thiagocostaalves Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Nice background is that from a game? This background is from the game Guardian Heroes for Sega Saturn. EDIT: I uploaded for you: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.